Sclerocephalus
Name:
Sclerocephalus (Hard head).
Phonetic: Skler-o-sef-a-lus.
Named By: Goldfuss - 1847.
Synonyms: Klauswaldia, Weissia.
Classification: Chordata, Amphibia,
Temnospondyli, Sclerocephalidae.
Species: S. haeuseri
(type), S. bavaricus, S. jogischneideri?, S.
nobilis, S.stambergi.
Diet: Carnivore and Piscivore.
Size: About 1.5 meters long, some variation
between species.
Known locations: Germany.
Time period: Early Permian.
Fossil representation: Many individuals, including
juveniles.
Anyone
interested in the temnospondyl amphibians would do well to study the
Sclerocephalus genus, as it is one of the few
temnospondyl genera
which actually gives us definitive clues about the lifestyles of these
amphibians.
There
are many individuals of Sclerocephalus known, and
between then
various life stages are represented. When newly hatched,
Sclerocephalus larvae would have been entirely
aquatic, and they
possessed a proportionately longer tail than what adults had to provide
more efficient locomotion through the water. During this stage of
their lives the juveniles also had proportionately larger eyes than
adults, and probably also the presence of external gills. As
individuals matured, Sclerocephalus began to rely
more upon their
lungs than their external gills, and the tail shortened as the limbs
began to take a greater role in locomotion, especially for periods
spent on land.
Sclerocephalus
were certainly capable of leaving the water and walking around on
land, but they were still well adapted to life in the water.
Sclerocephalus are known to have still had lateral
lines, a line of
sensory organs that ran down the length of the body identical to the
lateral lines of fish. This would have allowed Sclerocephalus
to
detect things like pressure changes in the water so that they could be
aware of other creatures moving through the water around them, even
when the water was to murky for them to see.
At
the top of the skull is a clearly defined pineal foramen, which in
simpler terms is a small hole in the top of the skull. This would
have allowed for what herpetologists call a ‘pineal eye’, a
photosensitive (light sensitive) organ that triggered melatonin
production from the pineal gland. The amount of melatonin produced
would then vary according to the length of the day light hours, which
could trigger certain behavioural activates depending upon the time of
year. This is why anyone who keeps creatures with similar organs such
as lizards as pets will steadily change the lengths of exposure to
things such as artificial lamps in order to trigger behaviours such
as breeding or even hibernation.
Sclerocephalus
is also one of the few temnospondyl amphibian genera where we can
definitely say what they ate. Remains of other amphibian genera
including Micromelerpeton and Branchiosaurus
have both been found
included with the stomach contents of Sclerocephalus
as well as the
bony fish Paramblypterus, which together suggests
that Sclerocephalus
were opportunistic predators.
Sclerocephalus
is the type genus of its own group, the Sclerocephalidae, though at
the time of writing it is the only member genus of this group.
Sclerocephalus was long thought to be related to
the eryopoid
temnospondyls (those closer to Eryops).
More modern analysis of
the genus however has led to the wider consensus that the genus is
related to the archegosauroids.
The
Permian period when Sclerocephalus lived saw the
broken continents of
the world coming together to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. This
single large land mass meant a great reduction of water within inland
areas, and many of the swamps and waterways soon dried out and became
more arid. This change in ecosystem meant the demise of most of the
temnospondyl amphibians like Sclerocephalus during
the Permian,
though a few exceptions such as Koolasuchus
are known to have survived
until the Cretaceous in the isolated wetland remnants that survived the
Permian and subsequent break up of Pangaea.
Further reading
- Revision von 'Sclerocephalus haeuseri'
(Goldfuss) 1847
(Stem-Stereospondyli) - K. Kratschmer - 2004.
- The stapes and middle ear of the Permo-Carboniferous tetrapod
Sclerocephalus - R. R. Schoch - 2002.
- The early larval ontogeny of the Permo-Carboniferous temnospondyl
Sclerocephalus, R. R. Schoch - 2003.
- Osteology and relationships of the temnospondyl genus
Sclerocephalus, R. R. Schoch & F.
Witzmann - 2009.
- Sclerocephalus jogischneideri n. sp.
(Eryopoidea, Amphibia)
aus dem Unterrotliegenden (Unterperm) des Th�ringer Waldes -
R. Werneburg - 1992.
- The early larval ontogeny of the Permo-Carboniferous temnospondyl
Sclerocephalus. - Palaeontology, 46: 1055-1072. - R.
R. Schoch - 2003.
- Revision von 'Sclerocephalus haeuseri' (Goldfuss)
1847
(Stem-Stereospondyli). - Geowissenschafftliche Beitr�ge zum
Saarpf�lzischen Rotliegenden, 2: 1-52. - K. Kr�tschmer - 2004.
- Osteology and relationships of the temnospondyl genus Sclerocephalus.
- Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 157(1): 135–168. - R. R.
Schoch & F. Witzmann - 2009.
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